Machine for forming and wrapping up individual articles such as candies

ABSTRACT

An intermittently rotating radial section wheel transfers articles along a guideway from a first stop station to a second stop station. Lengths of wrapping material are successively and intermittently fed transversely of said guideway. At the second stop station an intermittently rotating radial pliers of a wrapping wheel bends the wrapping material in U-shape about an article. During movement to an outlet station, the wrappings are folded over the article by wrapping members. Different types of wrapping can be carried out with different wrapping members.

United States Patent Seragnoli 1 June 20, 1972 MACHINE FOR FORMING ANDWRAPPING UP INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES SUCH AS CANDIES [72] Inventor: ArlostoSeragnoli, Bologna, Italy [73] Assignee: G. D. Societa in AccomanditaSemplice di Enzo Seragnoli e Arlosto Seragnoli, Bologna, Italy [22]Filed: Jan. 13, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 2,640

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 15, 1969 Italy ..1509 N69[52] US. Cl ..53/234, 53/378 [51] ....B65b 11/32, B65b 11/42 [58] Fieldof Search .53/234, 225, 378

[5 6] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,775,212 9/1930 Rose..,53L2 3 10/1935 2,131,428 9/1938 2,443,952 6/ 1948 2,379,555 7/1945Russell et al ..53/122 Primary Examiner-Theron E. Condon AssistantExaminer-Neil Abrams Attorney-Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato[57] ABSTRACT An intermittently rotating radial section wheel transfersarticles along a guideway from a first stop station to a second stopstation. Lengths of wrapping material are successively andintermittently fed transversely of said guideway. At the second stopstation an intermittently rotating radial pliers of a wrapping wheelbends the wrapping material in U-shape about an article. During movementto an outlet station, the wrappings are folded over the article bywrapping members. Difi'ereht types of wrapping can be carried out withdifferent wrapping members.

PATENTEDJum m2 3, 670,475 sum 2 or e SHEET 30? 6 '4 FlG-S FIG-2 FIG FIG3 PATENIEBJum m2 SHEET H1! 6 MACHINE F OR FORMING AND WRAPPING UPINDIVIDUAL ARTICLES SUCH AS CANDIES This invention relates to machinesfor forming and wrapping up individual articles, for example candies andother similar products, from a continuous plastic material web.

Machines for performing such a function are known.

Essentially, known machines are structurally conceived so as to supplythe continuous plastic material web through a structure comprisingmembers for subsequently cutting this web into individual pieces intimed relationship with reciprocable members which, in turn, aredesigned to supply these pieces in a rapid sequence to further membersof the machine intermittently operating for the subsequent individualwrapping up of such pieces in a predetermined manner amongst which are,in the terms of the art, simple bag or double knot wrapping pinwrapping, and others.

After operation by these wrapping up members, the individual wrapped uparticles are moved away from the machine. They are then, depending onknown requirements, either bulk collected, or supplied to a furthermachine providing for a further working or processing step, such ascollecting and wrapping up in a bundle a predetermined number of thesepreviously wrapped up individual articles.

These known machines have notoriously attained substantiallyunsurpassable limits in operating speed, that is a top speed ofapproximately 500 individual wrapping a minute. This top speed in thespecific application field is referred to as first speed where thesemachines are of course considered as first or one speed machines.Limitations to the first speed are due to the particular characteristicoperative structure of certain members of the machine, such as theabove-mentioned reciprocable structures of the supply members, and tothe functional co-ordination of these members with further members ofthe machine, and principally between said supply members and wrapping upmembers which are in fact also capable of satisfactorily normallyoperating at a higher speed.

With the purpose of obviating the limitations ensuing from suchstructures and co-ordinations for the operating members of these knownmachines in order to exceed the above speed limitations and to attain alarger number of wrappings in time unit, it has been proposed to providefor so-called multiwrapping line machines, involving a plurality ofsingle radially supplied operative units (wrapping wheel and elements).

A proposal for providing multi-wrapping line machines, that is machineshaving a plurality of wrapping wheels is to arrange these wrappingwheels on a single axis and to connect them to a drive system driven bya single motion supply. With such machines, that is by machines havingat least one double wheel with respective wrapping up elements, theoutput speed could be increased, but as apparent for dynamicrequirements this speed can never be increased proportionally to thenumber of operative units being used, that is doubled, tripled, etc.,since the alternately operating masses accordingly would be increased,thus reducing the unitary speed and hence the total speed.

Thus, if with a single wrapping line machine, that is a machine having asingle wrapping up wheel involving rotatably and linearly reciprocablemoving elements, the typical top or one speed of wrappings per minute isattained, it is apparent that by doubling these moving elementsconnected to a single motion supply, this speed cannot be doubled sincethe added elements, and those obviously dimensionally increased, willjust considerably increase the moving masses.

Further, where for these multi-wrapping wheel machines the problem isalso considered of concurrently supplying the individual articles to bewrapped up to each wrapping up wheel, either where these articles to bewrapped up are locally provided by subsequently cutting them from acontinuous web, or where they are previously formed according to a chainsequence so as to be individually divided when being supplied, and hencein both instances alternatively individually and sub sequentlyintermittently radially supplied to the wrapping up wheels,it is evidentthat in such machines the time unit output speed increase can never beproportional to the increase in the individual wrapping up wheels andthat they will never practically attain any particular technicaladvantage over the use of a corresponding number of individualconventional machines.

The technical and economical properties possibly resulting fromproviding these multi-wrapping line machines are readily apparent to bestill less substantial and productive when considering theabove-mentioned single axis, multi-operative unit structure because ofthe position as necessarily taken in the machine assembly by suchoperative units in the respective single configuration thereof ofrotatable wheel and moving bending elements, which would limit theliability of this machine to be embodied as a single wrapping stylemachine, thus devoiding it of the universal character as conventionallyappreciated in the particular use thereof just for the practical andeconomical advantages resulting from using a universal single-wrappingup line machine.

The present invention therefore sets out to provide a machine forforming and wrapping up individual articles, such as candies and othersimilar products, from a continuous plastic material web, capable ofattaining a high output speed by a single operative line for thewrapping up steps, that is having a single wrapping up wheel, thusretaining the main universal operation feature of different wrappingstyles, in accordance with the appreciated novelty qualities of theconventional machines.

In order to practically produce such a wrapping up machine, contrary tothe principle as based on increasing the operative units, or on theplurality of single-axis wrapping up wheels, which as above statedinvolve an increase in moving masses both in the members comprising theindividual wrapping up wheels and in the members being designed tosupply the articles to be wrapped, we instead started from the converseprinciple, that is of rationalizing the operating times andsubstantially reducing the moving masses.

Following this principle, we provided a machine assembly having suchcoordination of the movements between the kinematic members as to allowan accurate distribution of time-phase relationship and an adequatefunction association to remove idle times and to allot closelysufficient movement and dwell times to each operating member to ensurethe performance of the respective operations.

we attained this by a departure from conventional structuralplans forthese machines which, as known, contemplate the use of reciprocableoperating members or, as abovemen tioned, in the attempt to increase thetypical top speed of these machines, to adopt multi-wrapping up head orwheel machines, by providing the shaping and supply member for theindividual articles or candies as a rotatable head or wheel, and so asto impart thereto a unidirectional intermittentrotational movement intimed relationship with an unidirectional intermittent rotationalmovement of the wrapping up head or wheel.

Therefore, an important feature of this machine is in the above-citedconstruction, by which movement times and dwell times, respectively, canbe achieved for the two shaping and supply heads of wheels of theindividual articles or candies and, respectively, wrapping up saidarticles or candies, intended for the shaping and supply head or wheelto meet the requirement of conveniently inserting therein the length ofcontinuous web for candy cutting and, respectively, the transfer of saidpreviously out candy to the wrapping up head or wheel, and, as to thelatter, the requirement for transferring the candy along the wrapping upline in connection with the subsequent wrapping up operations.

A further important feature of this machine is also its driving orcontrol unit, consisting of a single kinematic structural arrangementhaving directly interconnected rotating members unidirectionally movingwhich, extremely significant in this kind of automatic paper wrappingmachines for attaining high operating speed, eliminates the use offlexible and/or any discontinuous operating members, such as chains andother like members.

A further important feature of the machine according to the invention isalso in the particular structural configuration of the rotatable head orwheel supply member and its particular insertion in the kinematicstructure, capable of operating this rotatable head or wheel so as tosupply the individual articles to be wrapped up in a rapid sequence withthe aid of a member for transferring these articles in the cycle ofwrapping up operations, the latter member being operated in turn by auniform movement.

With a machine incorporating said principle features, and owing to anaccurate design for rationalizing the workpiece paths, as well asremoval of reciprocating movements of some members and particularly theshaping and supply head for the articles in the wrapping up line, anoperating speed was attained more than twice that attained by hithertoknown and/or proposed machines.

Finally, a further but not last significant feature relating to themachine according to the invention is that this machine can be producedwith a particularly simple structure, which is simple and reliable inuse, which has an extended life and, above all, also has a comparativelylow cost price when considering the high operative performances providedthereby.

According to the main aspect of the invention, there is provided amachine for forming and wrapping up individual articles, such as candiesand other similar products, from a continuous plastics material web,comprising an intermittently rotating radial section wheel fortransferring said articles from a first stop station for successivesections where the articles from a supply member are inserted to asecond stop station for said sections; a transfer guideway from saidsecond station defined by two parallel facing surfaces; meanstransversely intersecting said guideway for intermittently feedingsubsequent lengths of wrapping up material; pusher means fortransferring subsequent articles and related wrapping up materiallengths engaged and urged by the respective articles along said guidewayand between said surfaces from said second station to one of thegripping pliers in an intermittently rotating radial pliers wrapping upwheel in a stationary condition at said first stop station, so that eachlength along said guideway is subsequently bent over in a U-shape aboutthe respective article; said wrapping up wheel, during its movement fromsaid first stopstation to the outlet station, subjecting the wrappingsof subsequent articles at intermediate stations to the action of bendingmembers, which members are interchangeable in accordance with thepre-determined type of wrapping.

Conveniently, the wrapping up wheel is associated with a fixed bendingmember, tangential to and at least partially surrounding the circulartransfer path of the articles entrained by the pliers. In connectionwith a versatility feature of the machine according to the invention,said bending members comprise, for simple or double knot wrappingstyles, a first bending member moveable transversely of said guidewayfor folding up one of the edges of the U-bent length on the outer sidewith respect to said wrapping up wheel for the pliers retained article;said fixed bending member, tangential to and surrounding the circulartransfer path of said article side, for clinching the second edge of thelength on said article during transfer thereof, so as to provide aprismatic tubular-wrapping; and finally further known bending membersfor these wrapping styles, such as those according to our Italian Pat.No. 466,665.

For the so-called tip wrapping style, in addition to the abovementionedfixed bending member, tangential to and surrounding the circulartransfer path of the article for clinching one of the edges of theU-bent length on said outer side of said article, there is provided asubstantially fork-like bending member, swingably moving on the plierswheel about an axis parallel to the axis of said pliers wheel, forbending the end areas of a wrapping face against the article heads, atright angles to said side; a fixed bending member, substantiallycomprising two plates parallel to the faces of the pliers wheel andadjacent located on either side thereof, for orthogonally folding up astips parallel to one another the wrapping ends during the movement ofsaid pliers wheel to said outlet station; a guide for clinching saidedge on the subsequent article face, thus completing the folding up ofsaid tips, and comprising a bending surface, as an extension of saidoutlet station and gradually curving in the feed direction of thearticles, for engaging and progressively folding up one of said tips onthe article body; and ejecting means for forwarding the subsequentarticles from said pliers as stationary at said outlet station alongsaid bending surface to the machine outlet.

Further features and advantages will be more apparent from the followingdetailed description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment forthe forming and candy wrapping up machine according to the invention,shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a front perspective view schematically showing the outerassembly of the machine;

FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are perspective views showing upon different scalessuccessive portions of the machine of FIG. 1, some portions thereofbeing broken away and/or cut away for a better illustration of thecontrol kinematic means thereof;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the portions of themachine shown in FIGS. 2 through 5 in order to follow the motorizationof the several operating members of the machine;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the candy wrapping line in theso-called tip type of style;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view showing a detail of the wrappingline in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a graph showing the time vs. phase of the operative movingelements of the machine in a machine cycle.

Referring to the drawings, the stationary frame of the machine is shownat 1 and an electric motor forming the primary drive supply is shown at2 (FIG. 4).

A pulley 3 is keyed on the shaft of motor 2 and causes a pulley 5 torotate by means of a belt 4., On axis 6 of this pulley a gear wheel 7and a diamond cam 8 are keyed. At'opposite positions said cam isprovided with a pair of small idle rollers 9 for cyclically andsubsequently engaging within the radial slots of a Maltese-cross wheel10. Through the connection provided by intermeshing wheels 11 and 12,said gear wheel 7 causes a gear wheel 13 fast with its shaft 14 and agear wheel 15 fast with its shaft 16 to rotate (FIG. 5).

The ratio of gear wheels l1, I2, 13 and 15 to gear wheel 7 is in theorder of l 2, or the number of teeth for the former gear wheels is halfthe number of teeth for gear wheel 7. Thus, each revolution of shaft 6,and hence gear wheel 7, produces two revolutions for each of said gearwheels ll, l2, l3 and 15 and for corresponding shafts 14 and 16. I

Since, as explained hereinafter, said shafts l4 and 16 are associatedwith members being operative for a respective operation on each articlesor candy to be wrapped up, it will be stated at once that the timecorresponding to a complete revolution of said shafts l4 and 16 isconventionally assumed as the machine cycle time, so that a machinecycle will thus correspond to a rotation through 360 of said shafts l4and 16, as shown at the bottom of the graph in FIG. 9.

As mentioned, the uniformly rotating diamond cam 8, intermittentlyrotatably drives the Maltese-cross wheel 10, the axis 17 of which isalso intermittently rotated. In the embodiment shown, this axis stops torotate at each sixth portion of revolution, that is at each halfrevolution of gear wheel 7 and, accordingly, of shaft 6 and diamond cam8, corresponding to a machine cycle, as previously noted.

A radial pliers wheel 18 is keyed on said axis or shaft 17 (FIGS. 1 and4), so that this wheel 18 will similarly intermittently rotate, as shaft17. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 7, said wheel is providedwith six radial pliers, each of which comprise a stationary jaw 19a anda jaw 19b swinging about a pin 19c which is fixed to the hub of wheel18, as explained hereinafter.

Beside meshing wheel 11, said wheel 7 meshes with a further gear wheel20 provided with the same number of teeth and keyed on a shaft 21, thusbeing also uniformly rotated (FIGS. 2 and 4).

In turn, said wheel (FIG. 2), by meshing with a wheel 22 having the samenumber of teeth and keyed on shaft 23, causes the latter to be uniformlyrotated. On said shaft 21 there are also keyed a diamond cam 24 and agear wheel 25 which therefore rotate integrally with shaft 21.

At its opposite ends cam 24 is provided with idle rollers 26 alternatelyengaging the radial slots of a Maltese-cross wheel 27 fast with itsshaft 28 which is, therefore, intermittently rotated, and in turnthrough a gear 29 having half a number of teeth with respect to wheel25, said wheel 25 causes a shaft 30 to be uniformly rotated.

A wheel 31 is keyed on shaft 28 and is provided with radial sections 32,each of which can accommodate a candy. Instead, shaft 30 carries, askeyed thereon, a cam 33 which at each revolution operates scissors 34for cutting a candy from the continuous web, as better explained below.

Such scissors operate closely adjacent wheel 31, by acting in a plane atright angles to the wheel axis, and comprise two jaws 34a pivoted on acommon pin 34b and at one end provided with cutting edges 34c. Two pawlsor idle rollers 34d are formed on said jaws 34a and are engaged withinthe groove of cam 33 keyed on said shaft 30. A return spring 34e isinserted between said jaws 34a, tending to spread them apart so as toensure the constant adhesion of rollers 34d to the active surface of thedriving groove in cam 33.

A channel 35 is defined by two parallel vertical walls (FIGS. 1 and 3).Through this channel the continuous web of plastic material isintroduced and fed, and along its longitudinal direction the progressiveroughing-out and formation of the continuous web is also accomplished,until a section is provided corresponding to the section of the candies.

conventionally, the first stop station for section 32 of wheel 31 isdefined as that station carrying each section 32 at the outlet ofchannel 35 (corresponding in FIGS. 1 and 2 to the position of thelowermost section 32); the second stop station for sections 32 isdefined as that station carrying the next sections to alignment with andat the pliers of wheel 18 (in FIGS. 1 and 2 this station is displacedcounterclockwise by 90 with respect to the preceding station).Similarly, the first stop station for pliers 19 of wheel 13 is definedas that station carrying each individual pliers to stop in alignmentwith and at one section of wheel 31 at a stationary condition at thesecond station, while for the embodiment as shown the second stopstation for said pliers is defined as the diametrically oppositeposition to the preceding one.

Channel 35 extends to open at the first stop station for sections 32, sothat the candies can be directly introduced into the same. At theopening, said channel has a loop 36 (FIG. 1) of a larger cross-section,so as to act as an equalizing chamber.

The plastic web is progressively roughened out and shaped on its sidesand at the bottom 'by said parallel walls of the channel and bottomthereof, and at the top by subsequent surfacing discs 37, 38 and 39overlying the top of said channel. Within the channel, feeding of thecontinuous web is operated by pairs ofdrawing rollers 40, 41; 42, 43;and 44,45.

It should be noted that web feeding occurs by uniform motion alongchannel 35 and arrives at loop 36. Feeding is intermittently effectedstarting from rollers 44, 45. For this purpose, pairs of rollers 40, 41and 42, 43 uniformly rotate, whereas pairs of rollers 44, 45intermittently rotates. The movement to said pairs of rollers isimparted as follows At the end of said uniformly rotating shaft 23 agear wheel 46 (FIG. 3) is keyed and meshes with wheels 47 and 48 fastwith respective shafts 49 and 50. Two inclined-tooth gears 51 and 52 aresecured on shaft 49. A gear wheel 53, fast with its vertical shaft 54carrying at the top said drawing roller 40, meshes with gear 51.Similarly, gear 52 meshes with a gear wheel 55 fast with its shaft 56,at the top of which drawing counterroller 41 is keyed. Said surfacingdisc 37 is also secured to the upper end of said shaft 56. Thus, the tworollers 40 and 41 are made to uniformly oppositely rotate. Similarly,shaft carries two inclined-tooth gears 57 and 58.

Through its engagement with gear wheel 59, gear 57 causes shaft 60 ofthe latter to rotate, said drawing roller 42 being keyed to the upperend of this shaft 60. Through its engagement with wheel 6], gear 58causes shaft 62 of the latter to rotate solid therewith and carrying atthe top said counterroller 43 and said surfacing disc 38. Thus, auniform rotary motion is ensured for the pairs of oppositely rotatingdrawing rollers 40, 41 and 42, 43, as well as said surfacing discs 37and 38.

Shaft 23 comprises two sections which can be functionally interconnectedby a front tooth clutch, as seen in FIG. 3, wherein the two semi-clutchelements 63 and 64 are coupled to each other.

Thus, the machine portion comprising said feed channel 35 for thecontinuous web, as well as said members for shaping this continuous weband relative control members, are assembled within a housing 65 pivotedabout a vertical axis 66 to machine base 1, so that it can be removedfrom the functional position of FIGS. 1 and 3 to allow for access toother machine members for maintenance, cleaning purposes, etc.

On this shaft 23 there is also keyed a gear wheel 67 meshing with awheel 68 which causes its shaft 69 and diamond cam 70 fast therewith touniformly rotate. At the opposite ends, said cam 70 is provided withidle rollers 71 engaging within the radial slots of a Maltese-cross 72keyed on a shaft 73, the latter carrying at its end an inclined-toothgear 74 which rotates a gear wheel 75 fast with a shaft 76 transverselyof said shaft 73. Due to this kinematic connection, shaft 76 will thusintermittently rotate. Two inclined-tooth gears 77 and 78 are secured onsaid shaft 76 and fast therewith.

Gear 77, by engaging with gear wheel 80 fast with vertical shaft 79,causes the latter to intermittently rotate. Said surfacing disc 39 issecured above said intermittent drawing roller 45 which, in turn, issecured to the upper end of shaft 79. In turn, gear 78 causes shaft 82to intermittently rotate, drawing roller 44 being fast with said shaft82 and, therefore, oppositely rotating with respect to said roller 45.

In their intermittent rotary motion, said wheels 18 and 31, comprisingin this embodiment six pliers l9 and four sections 32, respectively, anddistributed at regular intervals from one another on the respectivewheels, will move so that at each stop subsequent sections 32 of wheel31, at a stationary condition at the second station, and subsequentpliers 19 of wheel 18, at a stationary condition at the first station,are aligned.

Therefore, between two subsequent stops, said wheel 31 travels throughan arc of 90 in an anticlockwise direction, whereas wheel 18 travelsthrough an arc of 60 in a clockwise direction.

The second station for wheel 31 and the first station for wheel 18 areconnected by a guideway 83 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 7) defined by two overlyingparallel surfaces and interrupted by a vertical slot 84, through whichand transversely of said guideway the supply is accomplished forsubsequent lengths 85 (FIG. 7) of wrapping material supplied, forexample, by reels (not shown in the drawings), carried by reel shafts86. These lengths intermittently and stepwise with the arrival ofsubsequent candies will intersect said guideway, being carried theretoby known devices, schematically shown at 87 in FIG. 1.

As cut by scissors 34, the candies introduced into sections 32subsequently presenting at the first station, when reaching the secondstation, are forced into said guideway 83 by a pushing element 88associated with a stem 89 reciprocably driven by a connecting rod 90,the head 90a of which is restrained to guide element 91 by idle roller92 and the small end 90b of which is rotated by a disc 93 fast withshaft 94. A gear wheel 95 is keyed on said shaft 94 and meshes with agear wheel 96 keyed on said continuously rotating shaft 23 and havingtwice the number of teeth relative to said gear wheel 95.

As mentioned, the jaws 19b for pliers 19 of wheel 18 are pivoted at tosaid wheel hub and are driven to alternately swing. More particularly,they have to be stationary during movements of wheel 18, so as toretain, with the co-operating jaws 19b,the candies being transferredthereto, and should spread apart from said co-operating jaws 19b, so asto open said pliers at the first and second stop stations to allow forintroducing the candies between said pliers and extracting them attransfer completion, respectively.

To this end, (see FIG. each pin 19c of jaws 19b extends as an arm 97,carrying at one end an idle roller 98 slidable on a cam contour 99 keyedto the end of a cylindrical sleeve 100. A radial arm or link 101 is fastwith the end of said sleeve 100, the end of a connecting rod 102pivoting thereon, the small end of said connecting rod 102 slidablysurrounding a cam 103 secured on said shaft 14. A further cam (not shownin FIG. 5) is secured on said shaft 14 and slidably surrounded by thesmall end 1040 of a connected rod 104 which at its opposite end ispivoted to a link 105 fast with the end of a shaft 106 internally ofsaid sleeve 100 and, at the opposite end emerging from said sleeve,carrying a radial arm 107 to which, so as to be at the end of pliers 19at a stationary condition at the first stop station for wheel 18, thereis secured a substantially vertically extending plate 108, thiskinematic coupling making said plate 108 swingably move. The radialposition for plate 108 can be adjusted, for example, by a screw 109which is adjustably securable within a slot 1 10.

A third cam (also not shown in FIG. 5) and rotatable integrally withsaid shaft 14, causes a connecting rod 111 to alternately swing, thesmall end 1 11a of the connecting rod slidably surrounding said cam.Through a link 112, said connecting rod drives a shaft 113, so that thelatter will swingably rotate. A fork element 1 14 (FIGS. 1, 5 and 7) issecured to the end of said shaft and, therefore oscillates in turn, Fork114 is located along the passage zone for the candies retained by thepliers between the first and second stop stations therefor and straddlesthis passage zone, so as to involve those wrapping portions transverselyfrom said pliers. At 1 (FIGS. 1, 4 and 7) a cylindrical profile isshown, said profile being tangential to the rotary path of the pliers atthe area between the first and second stop stations, and at 116 (FIG. 1and 7) a fixed bending element is shown as comprising two parallelplates located on either side of the pliers passage zone.

A guide element 117 horizontally extends in alignment with each of thejaws 19a, 19b of pliers 19, when the latter are at the second stopstation, said guide element 117 being defined by two overlying surfacesparallel to each other, the lower sur face 117a of which is flat andhorizontal, whereas there opens on the upper surface 117!) a verticalslot 118 slanting to the middle vertical plane of the" pliers, andwhich, from a horizontal attitude at the top vertical distance fromsurface 117a and close to the pliers, takes on a progressivelydecreasing attitude, approaching said surface 117a as moving away fromthe pliers, i.e. to the location wherein the two surfaces are spacedapart by the length nearly corresponding to the candy width. Thisarrangement serves the purpose of progressively engaging, as explainedhereinafter, the tips of the wrapping as projecting end upward, causingthem to progressively bend over against the candy body. In theembodiment shown, only one helically extending slot 118 is provided, sothat only one of the tips is bent over against the candy by thisprofile.

Withdrawal and forwarding for the candies as retained by the subsequentpliers, from the second stop station thereof and to guide element 117,are effected by an extractor 119 which is secured to the end of arectilinear reciprocable stem 120 this motion is imparted to stem 120 bya connecting rod 121, the end 121a of which is restrained by an idleroller 122 along a straight horizontal guide 123 and the small end 121bof which is pivoted on a disc 124 keyed on said shaft 16, so as to beuniformly rotated.

Thus,said extractor 119 urges the candies along guideway 117 aswithdrawn from each of the rotating pliers, subsequently presenting atthe second stop station, and hence retracts prior to arrival of the nextpliers at said station.

The subsequent candies being forwarded along guideway 1 17 are placed ona table 125 and by a pusher 126 from there on a conveyor comprising aplurality of sections 127 fast with a chain 128 extending parallel tothe forming line for the candy wrapping, winding about the sprocketwheels 129 and 130 (FIGS. 1, 5 and 7).

A fixed plate a,located just above the candies moving along table 125 tosections 127, is designed for bending over also the second tip of thewrapping against the candy body.

Feeding of chain 128 is by uniform continuous and noninterrnittentmotion. To this end, a gear wheel 131 is keyed on shaft 16, which gearwheel drives through an idle gear wheel 132 a gear wheel 133 keyed onshaft 134. A bevel gear 135 is also keyed on said shaft 134 and mesheswith a bevel gear 136 keyed in turn on an end of shaft 137. Throughshaft 138 and universal joints 139 and 140, this shaft 137 drives ashaft 141, on which a bevel gear 142 is keyed and meshes with a bevelgear 143 keyed on shaft 144 of sprocket wheel 130.

Reciprocating motion of pusher 126 is also derived by said shaft 16, abevel gear 145 being keyed thereon for this purpose. Said bevel gear 145meshes with a bevel gear 146 on the keying axis 147 of which a disc 148is also keyed. Circumferentially to said disc 148 the small end 1490 ofa connecting rod 149 is pivoted, the other end 150 of which is guided byidle roller 151 along guideway 152 and carries, as articulated thereto,an end of rod 153, said pusher 126 being fast with'the other endthereof.

The candies being placed on successive sections 127 and transferred bychain 128 should be at least partially sealed. For example, consideringplasticized or waxed paper material for use as wrapping, what is neededis to effect a heat welding at the areas on the candy on which the tipsare bent over. To this end, the candies pass below a thermallyconductive plate 154 which is heated by any known means, such as heatingelements, so that the wrapping will be heat welded at the area facingthe plate. Since the candies are heated due to this operation, the heatwelding area should be cooled. Therefore, also along the feeding linefor sections 127, a sleeve 155 is located and supplied through an inletconnection 156 and an outlet connection 157 a continuous cool watercirculation from a supply source, so that the candies on passing belowsaid sleeve 155, are convection cooled.

The operation of the machine according to the invention will bedescribed also referring to the graph of FIG. 9, wherein the time vs.phase are shown for the moving members in the course of a machine cycle,i.e. a revolution of cyclic shafts 14 and 16.

For members 72, 31, 88, 18, 114, 119 and 126, the thick full lines inthis graph coincide with or are parallel to the respective thin baseline, and indicate the time in degrees of the machine cycle, whereinsaid respective members are at dwell, and the inclined lines indicatethe movement times, also in degrees, whereas for scissors member 34 thethick line coinciding with the thin base lines indicates the time inwhich the cutting edges 340 are at the open scissors position, i.e.spaced apart from each other, and the inclined lines indicate theclosing and opening times for said scissors, respectively. For thewrapping material length 85, the thick line coinciding with the thinbase line indicates the time in which the supply device rollers 87 actupon the precise utilizable length 85, and the parallel line indicatesthe time in which said supply rollers are inoperative between two nextlengths, whereas for the other moving pliers members 19b the thick linescoinciding with and parallel to the respective thin base line indicatethe times of closed and open pliers, respectively, and the inclinedlines in dicate the closing and opening time, respectively.

In the diagram, the graphic indications for the closing and opening ofthe moving pliers 19b are shown separated since, as more apparenthereinafter, the closing and opening for one pliers occurs at a distanceof some cycles, such as in the particular embodiment shown, which cyclesare spaced apart by two closed pliers cycles between a closing cycle andan opening cycle, respectively.

From this graph it is therefore apparent that for a 360 revolution ofcyclic shafts 14 and 16, a translational movement and dwell,respectively through 180, will occur for the continuous plasticsmaterial web, so as to allow scissors 34, during dwell step, to providefor opening and closing movements thereof in order to cut the candiesfrom the continuous web.

A further significant feature clearly displaced by the graph is thatrelating to the movement and dwell times, respectively, for the twowheels 31 and 18, which for wheel 31, are designed to meet therequirements of conveniently introducing the continuous web length forcandy cutting and, respectively, the reciprocating motion of pusher 88for transferring said previously cut candies and, for wheel 18, therequirement relating to candy transfer between the pliers thereof andwrapping up operation, respectively, as will be seen in the following.

Thus, for each machine cycle it appears that wheel 31 has 180 movementtime and 180 dwell time, whereas the movement and dwell times for wheel18 are 120 and 240, respectively.

The graphic lines for the other members, as shown in the diagram, arealso readily indicative for the functions of such members.

Therefore, this operation is as follows The continuous plastics materialweb is introduced into channel 35, wherein the drawing effect of thepairs of rollers 40, 41, and 42, 43 causes it to advance by uniformmotion. At the same time, the surfacing discs 37 and 38, as well as thebottom and vertical walls of said channel 35, impart to the web across-section progressively approaching and merging into that of thecandies to be wrapped. Beyond the major section loop 36, the continuousweb is, instead, intermittently drawn by the pair of rollers 44, 45,while disc 39 terminates the surfacing operation. Therefore, it isapparent that by properly and interdependently selecting the rotationalrates for the drawing rollers by uniform motion and for the drawingrollers by intermittent motion, the drawing web speed by theintermittently rotating rollers can be considered as varying about anaverage value coincident with the continuous feeding speed of the web.The major section loop 36 is just a kind of compensation chamber forintermittently storing, in timed relationship with the intermittentrotation of rollers 44 and 45, the material excess accumulated at eachhalf period and removed at the next half period. As a result, the webmass intermittently advances beyond rollers 44 and 45 and in timedrelationship with this advance, the cutting edges 340 of scissors 34will cut subsequent candies C from the web.

The mass rearwardly of the cut candies will urge the latter into thatone of sections 32 which is at the first stop station of wheel 31.

The travel of an individual candy along all of the subsequent stepsleading to the candy wrapping will now be followed. It is to beunderstood that the next candies are subjected to the same set ofoperations, each candy moving on as out of phase by one step withrespect to the preceding one.

When introduced into the section 32 which is stationary at the firststop station, wheel 31 rotates through 90, so as to transfer the candy CTO THE second stop station, at the inlet of guideway 83. As a result, anew section 32 has moved of course to the outlet of channel 35 toreceive a next candy. Thus, the candy is forwarded by pusher arm 88within said guideway 83 and advances therealong. On advancing (FIG. 7),the path of the candy intersects a wrapping material length 85, such asparafiined or plasticized paper, previously arranged in timedrelationship with the progress of successive candies through theguideway 83 at slot 84. On advancing, the candy forwardly draws saidlength of wrapping material which, therefore, is pushed into the grooveof guideway 83 in a U-shaped configuration with its edges 85a, 85b bentrearwardly by the surfaces defining said guideway and said groove orslot 84 as well, as seen in said FIG. 7. Finally, the candy arrives atpliers 19 which is stationary at the first stop station of wheel 18. Atthis location, jaw 19b is spread apart by jaw 19a, so as to aid thecandy introduction. As controlled by cam 99, said jaw 19b closes again,thus retaining the candy.

Then, wheel 18 will start to rotate and due to this motion the wrappingedge 85a projecting from the candy is bent over by the inlet edge ofprofile 115 against the outer side of the body of the candy. Thus, thewrapping takes on a first prismatic tubular configuration.

By being tangential to the path of the side of the candy, thecylindrical profile will retain said bent-over edge against said outerside.

Candy transfer from the first station to the second station is effectedby some intermediate dwells corresponding to the stop steps of thesuccessive pliers alternating at the first station to receive thesuccessive candies.

Fork 114 operates at one of these intermediate dwells. As the candypasses, this fork is driven by the control cam of connecting rod 111 toswing, so as to engage a face 850 of the prismatic wrapping on eitherside of the candy and to bend the end areas thereof against the sides ofthe candy parallel to the wheel plane. Then, fork 114 retracts and thecandy passes, upon continued rotational movement of wheel 18, betweenthe two parallel plates 116 which bend over the projecting end areas85d, 85e of the wrapping on either side of the candy in a directionopposite to feeding direction. Thus, a wrapping is achieved in which aredefined two bent over upward projected areas 85d, 85e, arranged oneither side of the candy and parallel to each other, as well asperpendicular to the candy body.

Finally, the pliers arrive at the second stop station, where jaw 19bcontrolled by cam 99, opens to allow for candy removal.

This removal is accomplished by extractor 119 which forwards the candywithin the guideway l 17, and slides the candy alongthe flat surface117a. As the candy enters this guideway 1 17, the end section 85f ofedge 85a is bent over by the leading edge of surface 1 17b and overliesthe previously bent over edge 85b.

Thus, two tips or pins are provided, whereby as the candy advancesbetween the two surfaces 117a, 1171; and owing to slit 118 opening onsurface 117b, one of the wrapping tips or pins, such as 85g, isprogressively bent over against the candy body. Finally, the latter isplaced on table and by pusher 126 on that of sections 127 which, byadvancing in a continuous motion, is aligned with said table 125, and isforwarded to the final cycle stations. Upon moving, the candy passestangentially below said plate 125a where the second tip or pin 85h isalso bent over against the candy body. Finally, heat welding of theupper wrapping portion is carried out by plate 154, as well as thesubsequent cooling of the heat welding area by passing below the coolingsleeve 155. At the end of the chain extension, the wrapped candiesemerge from the machine.

In practice it has been found that the machine according to theinvention for forming and wrapping up candies from a continuous web ofstreaming confectionery, or similar plastics material, does attain thepredetermined objects.

Thus, the structure of this machine is substantially compact, theoperative path for the candies along the sequence of processing steps isparticularly simple and rational, the operative members are minimized,and the moving masses are so designed as to ensure a machine operationat high speeds, and hence with a very high candy output.

The invention, as particularly described is liable to many modificationsand variations.

For example, it is possible to omit the plate 125a for bending thesecond wrapping tip or pin" 85h, by using a guideway 1 17 a second slit118 symmetrically mirror-like extending with respect to the candy centerline, so that each of the longitudinally symmetrical portions formingthe surface 1171: will overlie the passage area for one of the tips orpins 85g, 85h engaging and bending over the respective tip or pin. Alsoshaft 14 may have a further cam 158 swingably driving a connecting rod159, the small end 159a of which encloses said cam this connecting rodwill be adapted to control the clearance of known members, such as,according to the above mentioned Italian Pat. No. 466,665, the memberfor bending the wrapping as a simple or double knot," in combinationwith said bending member 108; obviously, in accordance with the type ofpacking as desired to be obtained, either connecting rod 111, orconnecting rod 159 will alternatively operate, which alternative can bealmost immediately selected by a simple and ready adaptation.

Finally, all of the operative parts can be replaced by other technicallyequivalent elements.

lclaim:

l. A machine for forming and wrapping up individual articles with aso-called tip or pin type wrapping comprising: means for formingarticles from a continuous plastic material web; an intermittentlyrotating radial section wheel for transferring said articles from afirst stop station for successive sections to a second stop station forsaid sections; means for inserting said articles in said sections ofsaid radial wheel at said first stop station; a transfer guidewayextending from said second station and defined by two parallel facingsurfaces; means for intermittently feeding successive lengths ofwrapping material transversely intersecting said guideway; a wrappingwheel having a plurality of gripping pliers radially extendingtherefrom; means for intermittentily rotating said wrapping wheel;pusher means for transferring successive articles and related lengths ofwrapping material engaged and urged by the respective articles alongsaid guideway and between said surfaces from said second station to oneof the gripping pliers of said intermittently rotating radial pliers sothat each length of wrapping material along the guideway issubstantially bent over in a U-shape about the respective article; andbending member means mounted adjacent said wrapping up wheel for bendingthe lengths of wrapping material for successive articles about saidarticles upon rotation of said wrapping wheel; and wherein said bendingmember means comprise a bending device which is fixed tangential to andsurrounding the circular transfer path of the article to clinch one ofthe edges of the U-shaped length of wrapping material on the outer sideof the article relative to said wrapping wheel; a substantiallyfork-like bending device, swingably straddling said pliers wheel forbending the end areas of a wrapping face against the heads of thearticles perpendicular to said side; a fixed bending devicesubstantially comprising two plates parallel to the faces of said plierswheel and located adjacent and on either side thereof for bending overat right angles, in the manner of tips or pins parallel to one another,the wrapping ends during rotational movement of said pliers wheel; abending surface guideway for clinching the end section of said edge onthe next face of the article, thus temiinating said tip or pin bending,and comprising a bending surface, gradually curving in the articlefeeding direction, for engaging said progressively bending over at leastone of said tips or pins on the article; and ejector means forforwarding the successive articles from said pliers along said bendingsurface to the machine outlet.

2. A machine according to claim 1, wherein said section wheel, transferguideway, wrapping wheel, and bending surface guideway, extend in arectilineardirection transversely of the direction in'which the articlesare inserted into said section wheel, and further comprising conveyormeans for receiving said articles in a wrapped condition from saidbending surface guideway, said conveyor means being disposed parallel tosaid rectilinear direction.

1. A machine for forming and wrapping up individual articles with aso-called ''''tip or pin'''' type wrapping comprising: means for formingarticles from a continuous plastic material web; an intermittentlyrotating radial section wheel for transferring said articles from afirst stop station for successive sections to a second stop station forsaid sections; means for inserting said articles in said sections ofsaid radial wheel at said first stop station; a transfer guidewayextending from said second station and defined by two parallel facingsurfaces; means for intermittently feeding successive lengths ofwrapping material transversely intersecting said guideway; a wrappingwheel having a plurality of gripping pliers radially extendingtherefrom; means for intermittentily rotating said wrapping wheel;pusher means for transferring successive articles and related lengths ofwrapping material engaged and urged by the respective articles alongsaid guideway and between said surfaces from said second station to oneof the gripping pliers of said intermittently rotating radial pliers sothat each length of wrapping material along the guideway issubstantially bent over in a U-shape about the respective article; andbending member means mounted adjacent said wrapping up wheel for bendingthe lengths of wrapping material for successive articles about saidarticles upon rotation of said wrapping wheel; and wherein said bendingmember means comprise a bending device which is fixed tangential to andsurrounding the circular transfer path of the article to clinch one ofthe edges of the U-shaped length of wrapping material on the outer sideof the article relative to said wrapping wheel; a substantiallyfork-like bending device, swingably straddling said pliers wheel forbending the end areas of a wrapping face against the heads of thearticles perpendicular to said side; a fixed bending devicesubstantially comprising two plates parallel to the faces of said plierswheel and located adjacent and on either side thereof for bending overat right angles, in the manner of tips or pins parallel to one another,the wrapping ends during rotational movement of said pliers wheel; abending surface guideway for clinching the end section of said edge onthe next face of the article, thus terminating said tip or pin bending,and comprising a bending surface, gradually curving in the articlefeeding direction, for engaging said progressively bending over at leastone of said tips or pins on the article; and ejector means forforwarding the successive articles from said pliers along said bendingsurface to the machine outlet.
 2. A machine according to claim 1,wherein said section wheel, transfer guideway, wrapping wheel, andbending surface guideway, extend in a rectilinear direction transverselyof the direction in which the articles are inserted into said sectionwheel, and further comprising conveyor means for receiving said articlesin a wrapped condition from said bending surface guideway, said conveyormeans being disposed parallel to said rectilinear direction.